◆ アルカトラズの語源。

◇ When the Moors invaded and conquered Spain and Portugal in the 8th century AD they brought with them more than just superb architecture. Most of the Spanish words that begin with al- Alhambra Almaden Alameda alcohol algebra for example - are Arabic in origin. Al is the article the. To the Moors a bucket on an irrigation wheel that scoops up water was called an al catraz. The Moors thought that pelicans scooped up water in their large bill to carry to their young in the desert. So they named the pelican - the alcatraz. They don't actually do that. To the Spanish seafarers the word eventually came to mean not just pelicans but any seabird. The word was further corrupted into albatross.
www.footlooseforays.iohome.net/cgi-bin/Topic.pl?topic=31public

◇ Alcatrazの語源はスペイン語で「シロカツオドリ」という意味。1775年にスペイン人に発見されたときに島にいたペリカンをそう呼んだからだそうです。私が行ったときはカモメの巣と化していました。
www.tanitani.com/content/alca.html

◆ それもそのはず、このアルカトラズ島にはもともとペリカンなどいなかったのです（いたかもしれないけど）。そもそもアルカトラズとは別の島に与えられた名前だったそうで…

◇ When the first European Juan Manuel de Ayala sailed into San Francisco Bay in 1775 the local Costanoan Indians met him. Of course these native peoples already had names for all the geographic features of the area but that didn't stop ole Juan. His first morning in the Bay he was anchored near a tiny dense patch of trees so he named that place Saucelito which means a small thicket of willows. The first island that he visited he called Isla de Los Angeles or Angel Island after the Spanish tradition of naming places after the Catholic Feast days closest to the discovery date. A nearby island he christened Alcatraz after the thousands of pelicans and other seabirds wheeling around it. However the island he named Alcatraz was actually the one we now call Yerba Buena. How did this happen? Well an Englishmen sailing into the Bay made a typographical error in 1826. Captain FW Beechey accidentally transcribed the name Alcatraz onto a much smaller island thereby cementing the mistake into the Royal Navy's nautical charts. Yerba Buena Island was perhaps named for a common native mint. So two mistakes - one a typo and the other an observational mistake resulted in the name of the most popular tourist attraction in the Bay.
www.footlooseforays.iohome.net/cgi-bin/Topic.pl?topic=31public

◆ 以下、おまけ。

◇ 総合ＳＭサイト　アルカトラズ / このサイトはＳＭを愛好する方々のために出会いや交流、情報を提供するものです。 / 公序良俗に反するものの掲載はしておりませんが、中には性的表現も含まれておりますので１８歳未満の方の閲覧を禁止します。
www.sm-alcatraz.com/

◇ アルカトラズ　A.D.（監獄レストラン） / 現代社会に復活した監獄「アルカトラズA・D」扉を開けるとそこには現実とは隔離された異空間が…。鉄格子に囲まれて、囚人になった気分で食事を楽しむ一風変わった店だ。フード、ドリンク共にきわどいネーミングのものばかり。囚人の脱獄ショーも必見。
gourmet.yahoo.co.jp/gourmet/restaurant/Kanto/Tokyo/guide/0101/P018853.html

◆ 「現実離れしたい人、逮捕されたい人ぜひ当店に遊びに来て下さい」とは上記のレストランの店長のことば。「アルカトラズBC」もあるとか。なんだかな。